Preferred Citation

Acquisition Information

Letter from Bill Clinton to Ed Jerome, gift of Chloe Nolan in 1997. (Accession no. 1997.069). Annotations on other pool reports, press releases and an essay, 1997-1999, indicate that they were also gifted by Chloe Nolan, however, the date of accession and accession number are unknown. The immediate source of acquisition and date of accession for earlier 1993-1994 materials are also unknown.

Biography/Historical Note

William J. Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, served two terms, 1993-2001. During his administration, President Bill Clinton, his wife First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter Chelsea Clinton made several visits to the island of Martha's Vineyard. The Clinton family's first Martha's Vineyard vacation occurred in August of 1993. The presidential visits drew a large number of national news agencies and journalists to the island of Martha's Vineyard between 1993 and 2000. In order to provide press coverage the White House Office of the Press Secretary set up a rotating pool to allow various news organizations special access to the Clinton family vacation. The information that each White House press corps member gathered was distributed to other members of the press pool through pool reports. The press corps on Martha's Vineyard was headquartered in the Edgartown School, by permission of the then-principal, Edward J. Jerome.

Scope and Content of Collection

The collection contains both press releases issued by the White House, Office of the Press Secretary and pool reports generated by journalists from various news organizations and distributed at the Edgartown School, 1993-1999. In general, official press releases contain policy statements on United States and global events, while pool reports describe the daily vacation activities of the Clinton family. These materials were collected by Edgartown innkeeper, Chloe Nolan and her neighbor, Betsy Campbell. The pair's fascination with the presidential visit and their collecting activities in the press corps headquarters are described in an essay by Betsy Campbell, titled "Keeping Up with Bill and Chloe," August 31, 1998. In addition, materials include a photocopy of a letter of thanks from Bill Clinton to Edgartown School principal, Ed Jerome, a press contact list and several, miscellaneous, partial faxes from the Office of the President and the Office of the First Lady.